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Very nice shots Tetra. Riccia sure is a nice plant. It works really well with your tank. You only started with an inch square of the stuff didn't you?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

That is the other enhancement that I see, when comparing the tank now to earlier:

Not only has the riccia grown, you also gave it more structure, in particular height diversion. Earlier, it was more of a flat row, like a saussage

Funny but you look just like I thought you would !

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Wings,
Yep. They sold it by the square inch at the LFS. Had enough to thinly cover two small stones. Never bought anymore.

LF,
Yeah I really like the riccia. If you use different height rocks the riccia grows about the same above each rock so the different heights develop. The rocks are probably due for a trim. I could definitely see what some people do riccia only tanks. I honestly find it really easy to work with as long as you use hairnets

Glad you guys like the new av. Yeah I though it was a pretty good self portrait.

P.S. In case you guys are interested I did start my Reef Log: http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/threads/30106.1.htm?8#
There are some parallels to planted aquaria so you might be able to contribute something

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O.K. I had to move things around for the addition of the reef tank. The new tank is going to go in the bedroom where my 12g currently is so that meant I had to find a new home for it. Well I always wanted a "Wet Bar" and now I have one. The 12g is now located in my kitchen that houses a small bar.



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Here's a closer shot:



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Tetra,

I am really blown away from your shots! The last one is the best. It shows off both of your tanks but the veiw of your 72 is extra great. It gives you a better perspective than just the strait on veiw we normaly give each other. Must say that it is quite artistic.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

That last photo is the best shot I've seen of your main tank. I really do wish you showed a bit more light in your tank photo's - I always get the feeling the pics don't do the tank justice.

BTW, what's the monkey staring at

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Thanks for the comments. I had a feeling that last shot was a good one. Wings once you get your camera you'll be taking nice shots as well.

I really do wish you showed a bit more light in your tank photo's - I always get the feeling the pics don't do the tank justice.

Well I'll tell you why my shots are usually on the darkside I can't take shots during the day, because my tank faces the western back of my house and faces a sliding door and window which produce to much glare to get a clean photo. This is also when my tank is running the 192watts. Most of the photos I take are with only 96watts of light, so I could probably get better photos by making sure all the lights are on or forcing more light on top. Also my camera is limited with a top ISO setting of 400. Some of the SLR cameras go much higher in ISO setting allowing better photos with less light.


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So on a different note.... Tetra, you have rams in this tank and shrimp. Do your rams ever go after the shrimp? I am kind of thinking of adding a curvacep to my tank but I don't want to have it make a snack out of my Cherry shrimp. Any thoughts?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

havent been here in god knows how long but everything looks great in my opinion!!! anywho keep it up but in my opinion i really like the more fuller look to the tank really shows off the height and length of it

keep it going master tank designer...BENSAF BETTER GET A LOG UP HERE SOON TO COMEPETE!!!

So on a different note.... Tetra, you have rams in this tank and shrimp. Do your rams ever go after the shrimp? I am kind of thinking of adding a curvacep to my tank but I don't want to have it make a snack out of my Cherry shrimp. Any thoughts?

My cherry shrimps are all in my 12g with a school of Gold Tetras and kuli loaches so there are no problems there. In my 72g I have only Amano Shrimp and the Rainbows, Bolivians and Blues don't even look at them.

keep it going master tank designer...BENSAF BETTER GET A LOG UP HERE SOON TO COMPETE!!!

Thanks Bratyboy2. Yeah Bensaf

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Ahh I thought you had some Cherry's in this tank but I was wrong. Thanks for the info. Sorry to post random question on your log.


55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

BENSAF BETTER GET A LOG UP HERE SOON TO COMPETE!!!

I don't need a log. I let this do the talking

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

yeppers looks good!!!! all hale to BENSAF

That's one hell of a hotch-potch
Very lush. Don't get me wrong the tank works because of the plant placement and different textures next to it, but any chance of alittle more DW peaking thru.

Bensaf I forget how deep is your tank. I'm surprised your able to grow the plants so full and overlapping each other with your light. Have you increased wattage overall?

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Not so much worried about the hodge podge of plants, but the fish...

What do we have: 1 bosmani rainbow , one dwarf neaon rainbow, some r. hengali, rummynose tetras, pearl gourami, cherry barbs a few otos and a partridge in a pear tree...


.. no wait, not a partridge in a pear tree... a krib it appears.

Hey, at least you're a good selector of plants...

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Back in the saddle!

The picture is a couple of weeks old. I've tidied up a bit since. There's a lot of wood in there, about 7 decent sized pieces. Most have become overgrown with Ferns and mosses. Showing more of the wood will be a big job. I will be moving by the end of the year so this tank will be a thing of the past In the meantime I don't want to do any major re-organising and will just let it do it's thing.

It's a fairly deep and tall tank. It's a about 22" deep so it does allow a lot of overlapping. Although if I had to do it again I'd push everything back and have a more open forground. I'd also have done the wood and rocks differently so as they stay visible. Envisioning how a tank will look 6 donths down the road and taking that into account is something I'm only starting to learn.

Because of the tank size and the way the plants are arranged I did add another couple of T5 bulbs at the back . This was more for light spread rather then more intensity. With one fixture lots of the tank wasn't getting light. Theres now about 186watts whaich is about 2.8 wpg.

Nowhere, you're right about the fish -it's a mess of a selection. But this tank has been going in various forms for 3 years now and there are a few fish that hung on where their bretheren have since gone to the aquarium in the sky. Should really find a good home for the odd guys out. I'd like to stick with the school of rummies and pencil fish ,there are larges schools in there but they were obviously camera shy, the Gouramies and maybe the Krib and get rid of the rest. It does distract from the overall look.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Because of the tank size and the way the plants are arranged I did add another couple of T5 bulbs at the back . This was more for light spread rather then more intensity. With one fixture lots of the tank wasn't getting light. Theres now about 186watts whaich is about 2.8 wpg.

Your overall wattage is pretty much what I have (2.7wpg) although your tank is 4" deeper. How are those T5 bulbs in comparison to the same wattage CF?

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A couple of select shots:

The ricca foreground is in full bloom and will probably need to trimmed soon. Besides looking nice the rainbows, rams and shrimp feed off of it constantly and it really hasn't done much damage to it.


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A closer shot:



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Moving further away, here's a full tank shot: Check out the little piece of wisteria that made it's way under the main rock and appears in the riccia group.



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And a shot even further away of the "Fish Kitchen"



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Tetra,

I really like the pictures of both tanks with you standing back a bit. You really get a different perspective. Very neat.

Rick
See all my pictures at Google Web Albums

Thanks Slickrb. It's interesting to see different perspectives. You pick up alot of things you wouldn't ordinary realize.

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Tetratech,

I like your fish-kitchen-tank shot and the one where you cut off the top part of the 72. That one looks almost as it would have the dimensions of a 125 and I can easily imagine what a beautiful layout this would be in such a large tank.

I am almost sure that you are toying with the thought of removing your main group and instead having a typical "less-is-more" Amano style tank, with such a lovely Riccia setup.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Boy LF, talk about "cold turkey" I was getting worried about you. This place is like a ghost town without your 10.9 posts per day average.

I am almost sure that you are toying with the thought of removing your main group and instead having a typical "less-is-more" Amano style tank, with such a lovely Riccia setup.

You know me so well I would love to do that. Maybe I should skip the reef and do that with my 46g. Only kidding Matty, but I would love to have another tank to try that. Maybe if I get bored with my 12g I'll convert it to a co2 higher-light tank.

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It's not a bad idea, but in order to pull if off I think you'd need to add more substrate and get some taller rocks in there. The 72 is pretty tall for a riccia/ hairgrass/ rocks Amano set-up, I think they work best in longer shallow tanks.

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Back in the saddle!

That is why I liked the picture where the top is cut off, it makes the tank more longish and shallow. I agree that the 73 (and the 12) would probably create too much empty space. My 40G would be much better suited for it, so hand over the Riccia rocks

Ingo

PS: I guess I take the ghost town comment as a compliment , sorry I was so busy at work

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

40G would be much better suited for it, so hand over the Riccia rocks

Yeah I see what you mean about the long shallow tank. Do you see what riccia is going for these days. I'm rich, I tell ya, rich, rich....

PS: I guess I take the ghost town comment as a compliment , sorry I was so busy at work

Absolutely.

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I'm rich, I tell ya, rich, rich....

No - NowherMan6 is Rich, you are Jeff

I guess my absence made you all very confused



Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

No no Ingo, that's OK - he can be Rich with the 4gallon nano if he says so. I'll be Jeff with the awesome riccia foreground and new saltwater tank. Woohoo!

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Back in the saddle!

Ingo,

No no Ingo, that's OK - he can be Rich with the 4gallon nano if he says so. I'll be Jeff with the awesome riccia foreground and new saltwater tank. Woohoo!

ADA aquasoil, I'm rich, I tell you, rich, rich....


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Ahh it seems that the grass or should I say the planted tanks are always greener on the other side!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well it's been a fun night I came home from work to find a my son complaining of a leak in his ceiling because we've been running the AC 24/7 and then I find my bolivian ram almost black in color sitting on the bottom of the substrate and my male german ram swimming out of control turning end over end.

I've been having trouble lately with my regulator and I think it's damaged or I damaged the low pressure gauge but there was definitely to much co2 in the water. I immediately raised my spray bar out of the water, shut off the co2 and did a 30% water change. Hopefully I caught it in time. I guess eventually something has to happen

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Glad you caught it in time. Keep us posted on your rams & if they fully recovered.

Cheers
TW

Thanks Robyn, I think I did. Both blue rams are swimming around together like nothing happened and my male Bolivian looks a little better, but I haven't been able to locate the female yet.

About an hour ago the blue ram was swimming aimlessly getting caught up in the plants. I've seen this happen when I tried to acclimate new fish at nite when the co2 was at it's highest. After leaving the bag the fish would immediately go to the surface and when I put them back in the bag they would recover. I guess that confirms I'm running pretty high on the co2.

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Tetratech,

Glad to hear that you see to have corrected the issue in time, did you find the female by now?

What exactly is the problem with your regulator, given that I have the same. BTW, I also have the self-made version from Aquariumplants.com, the one that is about $40 more expensive. Although I can tell that the needle valve threading is better and you can adjust the flow more easily, I still had the same issues (and occasionally still do now) where it adjusts itself, down and up.

About the high CO2: I know that you are one of the most careful Acclimators that I know of. Wouldn't you have driven up the CO2 content in the bag to almost tank levels during that phase? Or can it be that the drip method gives the CO2 (in tiny bubble form) enough time to dissolve before it mixes into the bag water (via exposure to air of the small drops that are added)?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

What exactly is the problem with your regulator, given that I have the same. BTW, I also have the self-made version from Aquariumplants.com, the one that is about $40 more expensive. Although I can tell that the needle valve threading is better and you can adjust the flow more easily, I still had the same issues (and occasionally still do now) where it adjusts itself, down and up.

Two things, one I somewho broke the right (low pressure) gauge. It registers pretty much off the scale to the right and the adjustment does not feel right. Like it's not threading correctly. I think I did the damage when I opened the cylinder valve and forgot to open the adjustment knob. BTW last week I refilled my co2 cylinder for the third time and I think I just refilled it two months ago, so something is amiss.

About the high CO2: I know that you are one of the most careful Acclimators that I know of. Wouldn't you have driven up the CO2 content in the bag to almost tank levels during that phase? Or can it be that the drip method gives the CO2 (in tiny bubble form) enough time to dissolve before it mixes into the bag water (via exposure to air of the small drops that are added)?

I did think the same thing, but I probably lost alot of co2 when I removed the water from the tank to put in the bags. Although I acclimated for about 2 hours, apparantly it wasn't enough. In retrospect, the water is dripping into the bag thru the air and probably dispelling much of it's co2 content.

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So when you set up a drip line you do not have it running right into the water colume in the bucket?

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

So when you set up a drip line you do not have it running right into the water colume in the bucket?

I was actually filling a tall bowl of water from the tank and placing it on top of the glass top. From that tall bowl it would drip into the floating bag, but to answer you question it was dripping above the water column in the bag because I wanted to see the rate. When I started doing the drip method I wasn't running my co2 nearly as high and I didn't really think about it. Now when I acclimate I'll have to make sure the tubing is below the WC (water column, not water change so I don't lose the co2.

BTW - I think I dodged a bullet. All my fish are accounted. I really thought one of the rams was a gonna. Recovery from co2 OD is alot different than a disease.

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Oh good,

Glad to hear all are well. Yeah, placing the hose below the water surface may help. So you say you take water out of the tank and place it in a bowl? This way, you may already have lost a lot of CO2 through surface agitation and such.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I am with LF. Go strait from the tank to the bag and bucket.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Yep, makes since to preserve the co2 some more. As I said when I first started doing drip acclimation I wasn't running co2 like I am now so it didn't matter.



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Glad to see everything turned out OK. I had similar experiences with acclimating new fish in the old 46 - I had a sparkling gourami try jumping out of the tank I guess that's the ultimate sign to pull back on the CO2 a bit...

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Back in the saddle!

I had a sparkling gourami try jumping out of the tank I guess that's the ultimate sign to pull back on the CO2 a bit...

Yeah I was say a fish doing somersaults or jumping out of a the tank is a good indicator

Anyway some random pics:

This is a shot of the foreground showing the wisteria crawling through openings in the rock and then appearing on the other side. I leave it few seems to make things more interesting.

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A closer shot of the wisteria breaking the beachfront:



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Stargrass is a beautiful plant, but I must admit I'm getting alittle tired of the maintenance (Is there a chnage coming). It simply grows to fast (Gotta be top 10 grower), but at a certain point it looks great, but it only last a day or two before it grows to too (Right Ingo). It's tough to beat for it's contrasting leaf shapes and ability to cascade over other plants and objects:







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Well I have to show the rams, since they were almost history. A fish doing somersaults is usually not a good sign, but they both seem fine:



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Here's the male that I thought was a gonna:



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And his main and only squeeze:



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wow your blue rams are real diferent to mine. mine have shorter stockyer bodys and much more blue. whats that puffy looken plant in the forground...i wants some

(Right Ingo)

Right - I completely agree with your statement. I debate with myself rather often if I should replace the plant with another one, ripping my roughly 70 to 100 stems out every 2 to 3 weeks, cutting off the rotting bottoms, and replanting all tops in bunches is very high maintenance, not to mention the water pollution caused by the rotting.

Wisteria: creeping to the beach. Looks nice because it looks natural, but it carries a danger. Because it is literally creeping up on you, you have to be careful to catch it in the right moment and trim it back, before it causes shading of the Riccia.

Beachfront shot: Hey - there are more rocks that scream "I want to have some Riccia too"

Surviving Rams:

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Beachfront shot: Hey - there are more rocks that scream "I want to have some Riccia too

No way, some rocks must remain just rocks for constrast.

A couple of full tank shots from tonite. I'm 100% convinced the high co2 I'm running eliminates virtually all plant problems, although I'm running a fine line between fish and co2. When the co2 goes down based on inconsistency the BBA opened a door and came in, with the co2 high and steady the bba just disappears.



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Although I'm happy with the tank and I've said I was done, I'm thinking I might "refresh" things in the near future.



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I'm thinking I might "refresh" things in the near future

That's our form of fun and demise , we just cannot keep our hands out of the tanks, and I am the leader of that pack.

As usual, tank looks nice, although I have to say that currently you have a triangle again, with a cut off section all the way to the left.

I don't know if I dare to fire up my CO2 as high as you do, the thin line seems to be very thin, it would make me worried all the time.

How are the rainbows doing?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

That's our form of fun and demise , we just cannot keep our hands out of the tanks, and I am the leader of that pack.

Yes I would agree with that statement

The rainbows are fine. I actually like the two of them they school (semi-private lessons) quite nicely, but Bensaf said they were light waste producers. As you probably know these guys like their food and seem to be pooping alot enough through I'm a Micro-Feeder.



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Have the rainbows gotten you wet during feeding time yet? Mine do about every day!

Lighting: I had no idea you were not running a 4 food ficture on your tank. That is quite interesting to me.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Lighting: I had no idea you were not running a 4 food ficture on your tank. That is quite interesting to me.

Do you mean 4 tube fixture?

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No I thought you had a 4 foot CL not a 3 footer.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

yeah tetra, I'm lazy (and at work ) so I don't want to go back and read - what didn't you go for the coralife 48" fixture?

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Back in the saddle!

No I thought you had a 4 foot CL not a 3 footer.

I don't have any Clown Loaches

Anyway I think it's funny after 72 pages you guys didn't realize what kind of light I had. r
After doing enough research and using my experience from my old 46G I did not want to have the light that the 48" reflector offered. It would have given me about 3.6wpg. I wanted to be closer to 3.0wpg and the 36" reflector gave me 2.7wpg. BTW I started off with a current usa 36" reflector and one of the ballast broke and replaced it with the Coralife fixture. A much better product. The Current USA fixture I had was so cumbersome with 4 plugs(2 light, 2 fans and an idiotic night light right in the middle where the tank support goes. S

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What?

You have a 4 foot long Clown Loach?



That's how rumours start.

Although I did never have a different brand of CF lighting, I second the notion that the CoraLife fixtures are very good, and on top reasonably priced. I have 3 and I am constantly wondering if I should get another one for the 20G, but that may give it too much light (3.25wpg), but that is how much I like it.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

That's an interesting solution. I'm having a similar problem - I wish they made the 96 watt bulbs in a 48" fixture Tough I guess if you had the 48" fixture you could have gone with 2 bulbs for most of the time, then have a 3hr spurt with all four on, kind of a noontime sort of thing...

EDIT: Just realized I wrote that as if there was a problem with what you have now

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Back in the saddle!

Well in a perfect world if I got the 48" maybe my aromatica would be more red, but what can I say, you have to take the good with the bad. I'm not complaining, but maybe now my tank can handle the add'l wattage. Anyway right now my noon time burst is about 6 hours. So I have 96watts from 9:30 to 12:00, 192 watts from 12:00 to 6:00 and then 96 watts from 6:00 to 8:30.

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CL.... opps!

You know what I meant though!

I see your resoning with the light. I am sure if I would have took the time to think about it then it would have sunk in. Though I did nothing of the sort.

If you went with either of the 4 footers then you would have 1.8 or 3.6 thus too much or not enough. Going with the shorter fixture works. In my case I think I am lucky running 3.25 all the time. I probably would have been better off to run t5's.

Anyways... sorry about all the craziness!



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

From a visual point of view I think it does look nicer whe nthe fixture is all the way across and lifted by arms an inch or so, something I can't do. I'm still debating whether I should add the full canopy to the top to give it a more built-in appearance. I used to have this on my 46g which LF hated. I would agree on that tank it look alittle tall, but on the 72g it might look good, although it will be a pain considering all the times I have my hands in the tank, so full canopys and hi-tech planted tanks probably don't mix. I could actually suspend the light from the top, but then the wires will still go down. Coralife sells a suspension cable for their CF light fixtures.

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A Riccia Balloon?

The post-waterchange pearling on my riccia apparently his lifted this group off it's rock. It was obviously overdue for a trim but the o2 bubbles are trying to take it to it's natural place at the surface.





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Yes I would agree with that statement

Well I was also guilty of that at the weekend. Everything in the tank was growing forward towards the glass so I decided to thin things out and make a few changes, and tetra, will be glad to know, make the driftwood a bit more visible.

Anyhows I went to the aquatic market to pick up a few things. A very strange collection of fish was available some of which I couldn't name at all. But I did see one thing that horrified me - Balloon Red Rainbows



Yep, what at first glance looked like balloon mollies were in fact stumpy balloon Irian Jaya Rainbows. One of the most beautiful freshwater fishes available reduced to a stumpy little freak. ARRRR Expect to see them in the US in the coming months and don't buy them.

Did have some young Indian Glassfish which were very very pretty and tempting , but I already have a hotch potch of fish.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

tetratech - Not only is your Riccia beautiful , it also has a built in warning system informing you when it is time for a trim. Couldn't get any better

Bensaf - Yeah, I hate it when they do this to fish, I wonder who would buy them and why. On a slightly different topic, have you ever seen or had any of the various Rice Fishies? They seem to be a cute bunch, and small on top of it. What do you know about them?

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

might have been already said but in the left hand corner up front is that hair grass? or the blyxe

Well I was also guilty of that at the weekend. Everything in the tank was growing forward towards the glass so I decided to thin things out and make a few changes, and tetra, will be glad to know, make the driftwood a bit more visible.

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

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The riccia has really taken off lately, literally. I think it's because it's getting more light (more seperation between backgroud and foreground plants. Here's a shot of my female ram getting some veggies:



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This stuff crawls:



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A picture is worth a thousand words"

That will come in time. Got to let it recover from a severe hacking. I do like it though, got more shape and depth now.

You know you are doomed to have Riccia forever after, whether you want it or not !

I got rid of mine almost a year ago but it still pops up. Even now. After I thinned out the Xmas moss which had got too thick I found pieces of Riccia in the middle stuck to the wood and still living. It's turning bright green again now. Pretty indestructible.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

You know you are doomed to have Riccia forever after, whether you want it or not !

Your probably right. I actually got lazy once and cut the riccia in the tank, but I quickly netted most of the pieces, but I'm sure there are pieces floating around. When it's healthy, it sure is pretty....

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Mosses are another good way to "plant" your Riccia, they almost form a symbiosis - The moss serves as the anchor for the growing Riccia. It the Riccia is growing too muc, the moss gets shaded too much and starts to die off, which, in turn, will cause the Riccia on it to float up and as such giving more light to the moss to regrow.

At least that is how it is in theory

On the other hand, my Riccia - Moss mix on the rocks of Rock Valley causes too much dying material underneath and on top of it created a beautiful breeding ground for BGA.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Mosses are another good way to "plant" your Riccia, they almost form a symbiosis - The moss serves as the anchor for the growing Riccia. It the Riccia is growing too muc, the moss gets shaded too much and starts to die off, which, in turn, will cause the Riccia on it to float up and as such giving more light to the moss to regrow.

Sounds interesting, but is there a fine line between it looking good and looking like a mess.

Anyway, since you guys are so keen on talking about dward cichlids does anyone thing this comparison shot (not the best I know) of my bolivian is simply young versus old. He just doesn't look like he used to and the rams have stopped breeding. The top pic is about a year ago and he was fullier and rounder the bottom one is fairly current.

EDIT: Also his eye in the bottom shot looks much bigger in relation to his body.


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The difference is certainly there - is that bright red spot on his gill normal?

Rams are short lived, most say 2-3 years. I don't know if that applies to bolivians as well. It's possible you may have gotten him when he was a almost a year old, and now he's an old man at 2

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Back in the saddle!

Most sites are saying 2 to 4 years for Bolivians.

The red is more a flush. He doesn't really have that much red there. I had him in my 46g for quite some time, before this so it's possible I've had him for as much as 18months, plus his age when I purchased. he definitely wasn't full grown when I bought him. I'll have to see if I could find some eariler pics.

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Hey, he survived green water, willow twigs, and what not - what do you expect?

Seriously, is his body coloration always this dark these days? If I am not mistaken, doesn't that indicate being scared or unhappy? It could, of course, also mean old age though.

Being so young in this hobby eleminates me from having experience with fish dying of old age, so I really cannot help there this much, sorry about that.

Ingo

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Hey, he survived green water, willow twigs, and what not - what do you expect

You forgot brewery, yep he survived that as well.

He's not usually as dark as the pic, but he does get very dark and sits on the bottom when the Co2 is too high. He and the blue rams seem to be most affected. I guess he's just an old man.

I took this pic the other day showing lots of activity. I was able to count all my cardinals and they are all fine. I can't remember the last time I lost one. Again I really think the UV is a big in this regard.





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Nice Shot,

"Picknick at the Riccia Field"

Interestingly, I observed yesterday that the new male Apisto has a dark gray body coloration when scared, and there were a few times yesterday when this happened during transport and acclimatization.

Are you sure he is not scared of something? Did this start to happen after the Rainbows were added?

Ingo

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It's possible. The only thing I've noticed lately is that my female blue ram has gotten more aggressive and is starting to bully the male (coloring not as good).

Oh, what a minute......

I think, yep part of his caudal fin tip is missing, someone's picking on him and I think it's the blue ram. Wow Ingo you know your "little" fish.

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Well Thanks,

Now, if we only would know why he gets picked at. It may be simply because he is getting old and can't move fast enough out of way anymore.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Could be or just a littie overcrowded and the danger of mixing rams. Now that the blues have settled in I think they are laying down the law especially the female.

What do you think of putting the two blues in my 12g and and removing the loaches and gold tetras and just leaving the blues with the cherry shrimps. Ideally would like to get rid of my rummys, pencils and black neons, but some have been with me so long, I hate to give them back to a LFS.

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Give it a try, but I wouldn't feel safe mixing rams with cherries, they're just too small. Amanos, fine. Cherries? Could turn out bad.

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Back in the saddle!

Your probably right about the cherries. See I need another tank. I have a 46g but that tank went to the darkside of the moss(still deciding on equipment) and I have a 5g in the garage. I need a "Fish Room"

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I am with NowherMan6 on the shrimp/Ram issue, might be too risky.

Otherwise, I think you have reached (or even surpassed) the point of saturation. Of course we all will go and tell you to get an additional tank , and I am sure that NowherMan6 and I would come all the way to LI to persuade your wife that this is the only "right" way, but you have to let us swim in the pool, and a dinner wouldn't be too bad either

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

but you have to let us swim in the pool

Well if you guys ever take a road trip, I'll be more than happy to accomodate.

I forgot about my son's guppy tank, but that ones overloaded with guppies, two zebra fish that never die and a Bristlenose. That is the one tank in my house that almost never gets a water change (just topoff) and everything is fine. One of the zebras gets a swollen belly and it looks like it's gonna pop and then next thing I know the belly looks normal and it does the same thing a few weeks down the road.

It's a ten gallon with a stanard tubelight.



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Ideally would like to get rid of my rummys, pencils and black neons, but some have been with me so long, I hate to give them back to a LFS.

Of such things are fish "hotch potches" born.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Of such things are fish "hotch potches" born

Well since you didn't put up a pick I'll have to bore you with another one of mine. Sorry I don't have any thing exciting like double or triple purple/green apistos just good old fashioned PLANTED AQUARIA with my plain vanilla bolivian rams.

Anyway some nights the tank just has a little extra something and tonite was one of those nites. Don't know if it is communicated in this pic, but here it goes:



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Sorry I don't have any thing exciting like double or triple purple/green apistos just good old fashioned PLANTED AQUARIA

Your blue rams are pretty exciting, especially as you're having such success with them, where they can be so difficult to keep alive. I can't find the courage to even try them.

And, your tank is a beautiful PLANTED AQUARIA.

Cheers
TW

Sorry I don't have any thing exciting like double or triple purple/green apistos just good old fashioned PLANTED AQUARIA with my plain vanilla bolivian rams.

Come on, you have some blue/yellow Rainbows in there, and many other colorful fishies.

You know what I would like to see in your tank that, for me, would bring it to the next level? Motion, or to say it more percise, the impression of motion. I have to think about it some more before I can explain exactly what I mean, I will keep you posted.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Thanks for the comments

You know what I would like to see in your tank that, for me, would bring it to the next level?

Are you thinking in photographic terms (ripple on the water, etc.)?:

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Yes, somewhere along these lines, although I haven't even thought about this particular option.

How to describe it? I will try:

When looking at your tank I see a focus group of tall stems surrounded by lower plants. It looks like a "still life" in the pictures.

Fish are not moving, and the only way I can think of displaying fish in motion is if they are in school formation and obviously are on route from one area to another.

Plants can show motion as well, for example thinner leaved sags, apons, crypts (spiralis), vals, and what not when swayed in the current. The capture of these swaying leaves in a picture still gives the impression of motion within the tank.

Last but not least, if you can show the water flowing (for example with your idea of water ripples), that would show motion as well.

I know that some of the contest winning tanks have no motion either, but most try to show that there is action, mostly with fish schooling and water movement.

I hope I explained it somewhat well,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I hope I explained it somewhat well

Yes you did and I will work on it

So hard to please

EDIT: Actually what would probably help with motion is to get a large school of very small tetras. Like 50 or 60 Embers or something small and set them lose.

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Like 50 or 60 Embers or something small and set them lose.

And increase the bioload?!?!? Perish the thought!



Sorry, just having a little fun.

If anything up that school of cardinals I would think. The bioload contribution of the cardinals is pretty small, I think you can stand quite a few more without causing trouble.

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Back in the saddle!

a large school of very small tetras. Like 50 or 60 Embers or something small

Now you are talking and you understand the beauty of 50 to 60 Espei. At about 1.25 to 1.5 inches, the perfect small schooling fish to show motion.

Remember my older pictures from the time when I had maybe only 40 of them? You could actually see how the school was on the move, forming an Autobahn along the tank.

NowherMan6 is just jealous, not too many schooling fish fit into a 4G

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

If anything up that school of cardinals I would think. The bioload contribution of the cardinals is pretty small, I think you can stand quite a few more without causing trouble

Your talking to tetratech not LF Of course I would have to have a major fish sale before I added those.

To be honest I go back and forth with the cards. sometimes at night they seem to school nicely, but most of the time they are kinda hanging around. I thought maybe the rainbows would scare them alittle. I guess when your related to the Pirhana you don't scare easily.


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LF's experience with his Espei really made me think about the importance of choosing the right fish for a layout, and choosing the right number. Even though bioload-wise his tank was probably fine with the 70+ espei, behavior wise it took away from them a bit. There wasn't enough space for them to swim together and school back and forth. Now that their numbers are down, he commented in his log that he can see their natural behavior more, forming a school and mvoing around. On the other hand, if those were cardinals it probably wouldn't matter if there were 100 or 12, they would still just hang out and "flit" around, like cardinals do. Just a behavior thing, but something to be aware of when choosing fish.

I guess when your related to the Pirhana you don't scare easily

Was it in this log where I read about their teeth? I read somewhere that cardinals actually have a ton of sharp teeth like their cousins, but they're tiny, almost microscopic. Funny to think of those little neon fish that way, but they are related

NowherMan6 is just jealous, not too many schooling fish fit into a 4G

Ah yes, but how many will fit in the ~65 gallon 48X18 tank I picked up last night...? Alas, that's for a different log...


EDIT: Forgot to post my first reason for replying, LFs comments about capturing movement. Amano seems to have two ways of photographing tanks - one using a 200mm lens stopped down to f/16 or more to capture a lot of depth-of-field. This flatens out the scape, making it seem like there's less depth than there really is. The other way seems to be using wide angle lenses, and this seems to add the most drama. Notice that a lot of shots in the AGA contest seem to be taken from below the level of the bottom of the tank, looking upwards? Maybe give that a try. Just thinkin...

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Back in the saddle!

Ah yes, but how many will fit in the ~65 gallon 48X18 tank I picked up last night...? Alas, that's for a different log...

Nowher hits back hard. Fresh off his success with his nano Nowher goes big. What kind of tank is the 65g

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It's an acrylic from glasscages. I was thinking earlier of doing an open top "Bensaf" type of tank deal, but crunching numbers the price of the tank+shipping wasn't worth it, it was just way too much for me to pay for a tank. This one has black bracing on it like an all-glass, but like I said, it's acrylic - so the possible scratch factor is there, but on the other hand it's very solid, very clean, very clear and the front corners are rounded so there's no messy silicone or anything. Shipping by UPS ground was 30 bucks. Altogether I paid less for this than a new 46 bowfront and the dimensions are great IMO - 48X18X17 (a little over). The footprint of a 75g, just shorter.

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Back in the saddle!

Sounds like a great deal. I've seen that website.
You could get scratches out of acrylic, but it's a pain.


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Nothing more to say about tetratech's tank right now,

But glad to read that NowherMan6 is back in the "bigger" tank business. Can't wait to write my comments into the corresponding log then, just to mess with his mind - of course .

Congrats on the new tank

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

I was looking for a pic of my bolivian cause I don't remember how old it is and I came across my 46g. This was one of my first attempts at scaping and there's my bolivan ram (in front of the moss covered DW). The pic is from 3/05. So I've had hime at least a year and a half.

Can anyone say Hygro? Robyn BTW the black top that LF hates is the canopy I was talking about, might get it for my 72g. On this tank it's a bit high, but it does make the tank look built-in and it does make the tank easier to see since the only light you see is in the aquarium.


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Can you say Angelfish? Every time someone asks, can I put a pair of angels in a 29 gallon tank, post this picture.

As for your ram, he has to be at least 2 then, right? That's getting "up there" in years for a ram...

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Can you say Angelfish? Every time someone asks, can I put a pair of angels in a 29 gallon tank, post this picture.

I've actually done that a few times and this of course is a 46g. This pic is I believe shows the Angelfish even older and bigger. Look how cramped he looks?



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Anyway some nights the tank just has a little extra something and tonite was one of those nites.

The problem with planted tanks is they they only look the height of their potential about 5% of the time. Especially those with stems.

You trim one group and another looks perfect, by the time the trimmed group is back to looking it's best the other group has now grown too tall It's on those rare moments when all the plants have reached just the right height and fullness at the same time that you get those magic moments. Within a day or two, one or more of the groups has got just a bit too tall and the mgic moment is gone.

Part of the joy and frustrating at the same time

I have to agree with Ingo, I've said it before, it is a bit like a still life and a bit cold. Almost too pretty.

Part of it may be the fish. Well for starters you can rarely see any in your photos. Cards and Neons are attractive but they bore the hell outta me. They just seem to sit there.

Strange looking at the old photos, while obviously your growing and 'scaping skills have increased dramatically, the old tanks did seem to have more life. The hardscape was more prominent, the plants a bit more ragged and natural looking.

Still love the tank. But you know already my tastes run a little different, I tend to overdo things. I focus on very small areas and build around them.

I suspect the photos still aren't doing full justice. I know I've never managed to take a single photo of my own tanks that are a fair representation of what the tank looks and "feels" like in reality.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

I know I've never managed to take a single photo of my own tanks that are a fair representation of what the tank looks and "feels" like in reality

That is so true. And on top of it, I believe on a photo other people cannot see what the person sees who made the picture, who knows the ins and outs of the tank, who has seen the tank from various angles and in 3D. That sometimes leads to confusion as the photographer wonders why others cannot detect the beauty/issue that he/she wants to convey.

Tetratech - I agree, you have to keep that angel shot handy. I occasionally toyed with the idea of angels for one or the other of my tanks, but this shot straightened me out again. Thanks

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Bensaf, LF,

So heard to please!
Let's see "too pretty" "still life" Well sounds like art to me.

I find when the mid-center area of my tank is more overgrown with wistera or stargrass the tank takes on a more layed "messy" natural look, right now it's pretty clean cut but I'm enjoying better riccia growth. Goes back to can't be everything to all plants, fish and critics. Unfortunately as you both pointed out pics don't usually commnicate all the intricates that are present.

I bet there are a few things you didn't notice, for example, if you look from right to left in the pic, starting with the jungle of wisteria notice how the fullness breaks up alittle and then there are a few pieces that find their way to the mid foreground. I bet you didn't notice that in the first look. Another thing the rotala is a mid-ground plant. It is dead center from front to back partially in front of the stargras grouping.

The problem with planted tanks is they they only look the height of their potential about 5% of the time. Especially those with stems.

This is true kinda.
The other day my wife got on my case because she can't believe how much I mess with my tank. I'm lucky I work from home alot (actually not so lucky, because so does th wife ) and I realized she was right. I noticed that when I'm able to cut a stem here and cut a stem there. I could keep the tank in pretty good shape without doing a major trim. I could also catch things before they become a bigger problem, I don't thing LF has that ability and he has a bigger tank. The rotala is a perfect example. I probably trim a stem or two every other day. I also think constant trimming is really good. I believe the plants develop better growth and thus keep the water cleaner and crisper - Tetratech Out

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Can anyone say Hygro?

Sorry I am a bit behind but have a peek at my tank.....hygro city!

I completly understand the life in the pictures talk. When I take pictures of my tanks I can never really show off anything that might happens to look nice on the given day I get a camera in my hands. You guys take much better pictures than I do and I am sure that if I were to see your tanks in real life I would be twice as interesting in them.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Well it's been about 7 weeks since I bought my blues rams. Had a little scare about a week a go with the male blue and too much co2, but both seem fine. After that incident the female has been picking on the male, but now they seem to be following each other around again. Could it be that the male was weakened and the female picked up on that.

Here's a current pic of the male, notice the solid black side spot with new blue dots in it:



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And now the female. Notice the black spot has some blue dots in it. I was told this was the easiest way to tell male from female.



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Robyn BTW the black top that LF hates is the canopy I was talking about

Thanks Tetratech. Just crop the canopy out of the pic & LF will never know it's there.

BTW, I like your "still life" look

My tanks all have a similar canopy (more sloped/rounded though) as they came with the tank & the lights are built into the canopy.

Cheers
TW

Bensaf,

We must have offended tetratech seriously, have you taken a look at his Avatar?

- Now that is a still live

Ingo

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Yep I see the Av.

Unfortunately I think it only serves to prove our point

Well, we all have the wife issues (as no doubt Wings is discovering!). I think that for me it's not so much the amount of time as the timing itself. Coming and the first thing you do is check the the Co2, check for pearling, count the fish etc and THEN say hello to your wife is not a good thing Only thing worse is remembering to say hi to the wife first but then she catches that your eyes are on the tank while you kiss hello

I tend to be like tetra too, I prefer a 10 min tidy on a daily basis rather then one big weekly trim. Although I'm now down to only 4 species of stem plant, all pretty easy to take care of, and this certainly makes things easier. It also keeps the "look" longer.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Draw this:





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There's a challenge. Nice shot tetratech

Cheers
TW

Ha! I told ya...

Nice shot, although the white balance has taken away some of the reds of the middle plants. Very nice though

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Back in the saddle!

Well, we all have the wife issues (as no doubt Wings is discovering!). I think that for me it's not so much the amount of time as the timing itself. Coming and the first thing you do is check the the Co2, check for pearling, count the fish etc and THEN say hello to your wife is not a good thing Only thing worse is remembering to say hi to the wife first but then she catches that your eyes are on the tank while you kiss hello

Well you see......I get home and I normaly see my tank before my wife. She is up stairs doing her online homework while my tank is right before my eyes. It is not my fault it got to me first!

Nice shot tetra. I love how you jump up to the challenge of these guys! Was your light on high for the picture or half wattage? It seems a little dark but I think it is because of what Nowher brought up.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

although the white balance has taken away some of the reds of the middle plants

- I think we simply cannot let tetratech have his 15 minutes of fame without finding something to criticize.

But really, now we can see some motion, and some fishies as well, its getting better and better

Your tank background is some self stick foil, right tetratech? What would it take to remove it and to place it back on? Just out of curiosity and not because I think it would be better, but I am wondering how this scape would look with a white or very light blue background. Or even something with a light red tone.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Ha! I told ya...

Yes you were right Nowher, when you said low and below I thought about those Amano shots.

Yes the color got sapped, I'm ont a pro photography, but shot needs more light and a faster shutter.

LF,
The background is removable. It's been put on with vasoline, but I don't think I want to go there.

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A little shocker today, I woke up to a dead Bosemani. I was really shocked. I saw no problems with the fish just the other day. All other fish are fine. This is the first fish I could remember losing since that little gourami many months ago.

EDIT: It seemed like the one that died was the weaker male (color, slighly smaller) Could this have been the cause.

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It seemed like the one that died was the weaker male (color, slighly smaller) Could this have been the cause

In itself, I would say no. When one has more than one fish of one kind then one will always be the weaker one.

A few questions:
- Have the rainbows been fighting with each other often?
- Has the female Ram been fighting with him?

The only other thing I can think of, assuming that it was not an illness, would be that 2 fish of a schooling type simply doesn't work out that well.

Sorry about the loss tetratech,

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

The only other thing I can think of, assuming that it was not an illness, would be that 2 fish of a schooling type simply doesn't work out that well.

Well the two fish during certain times were always doing their "diplay dance" for each other. Same way the pencils do it, but with the pencils I have 2 males and 3 females.

I think it's also an issue of too many fish.
stuff happens, if you know what I mean.

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Holy Haircut



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indeed... any reason for the buzz cut? Do you have a scape change in mind?

I think it's also an issue of too many fish.

I still can't see how you have "too many" fish. I know there's a correlation between easy to care for tanks and low fish load, but you don't really have that much in there. Cardinals, pencils, two bosemanis, a few otos and 4 rams is nothing for a 72 gallon tank. I just want to know how Amano has his tanks set up for a year or so with 85 espei or hengali, 10-15 otos, tons of shrimp and 10 rosy barbs in a 65 gallon tank and everything is fine in terms of fish health and algae. I know part of it is that he doesn't use a ton of light necessarily so that helps, but he doesnt't exactly always stock lightly when it comes to his schooling fish, and that's doing a normal 50% weekly water change schedule. I'm only using him as an example because I have the book open in front of me, but there are others who do it as well.

I think it may just be that stuff happens, sometimes they just die.

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Back in the saddle!

Sorry to here about your Rainbow. I lost one of mine yesterday. I think my Convicts kicked there butt. I am really tworn right now on what to do with that tank.

As for the haircut or should I say buzz cut. It actually looks pretty good still. Much like the picture you posted a while back with the top of yout tank chopped off. It also seems to add a lot of life to your tank being there are quite a few fish in sight now from the picture.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

I still can't see how you have "too many" fish

I'm not suggesting that the fish died because of overcrowding but let's just say more "stuff" happens when you have more fish in the tank.

When you see amanos tanks how do you know he's not losing 10 of 80 schooling fish over the course of a year?

Speaking of Amano, check out this shrimp (bad pic) she's loaded with eggs. Sorry I'm not setting up a brackish tank for the fry

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I will drop off a 20L this weekend and some salt if you give me some baby shrimp!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

will drop off a 20L this weekend and some salt if you give me some baby shrimp!

BTW - Sorry to hear about your Bosemani as well. Very strange, cause the fish was eating and acting normal the day before.

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Same thing with mine. The only difference between mine and yours is I have a nasty set of cichlids in the tank with mine that happen to have fry.

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

When you see amanos tanks how do you know he's not losing 10 of 80 schooling fish over the course of a year?

It's possible of course, but he's usually good about telling when that sort of thing happens. I know he's killed off livestock plenty of times with too much CO2.

Congrats on the gravid Amano I bet you'd need a lot of experience to properly breed them - raise the adults in FW, transfer them to salt or brackish to rbeed, then slowly bring the young back to FW. Are they all wild caught?

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I bet you'd need a lot of experience to properly breed them - raise the adults in FW, transfer them to salt or brackish to rbeed, then slowly bring the young back to FW. Are they all wild caught?

Sounds like 3 tanks just to breed some shrimp.
Not sure about the wild-caught thing.

Anyway, here's a center pic of my tank one day after every single stem in the pic was trimmed.



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Stargrass just grows to damn fast, but when it's healthy it's tough to beat:



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It gets quite tricky playing with different growth rate plants. In my tank right now the Sunset Hygro is trying to gro a cross the top of the tank. I like to keep the stuff taller but then one day durning the week it shoots up on me and the tank looks messy.

Were you playing camera tricks with the last full shot picture? (fan on the tank?) I think I see a slight ripple!

55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

It's been a while so here's a current pic:



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Beautiful as ever.

I'm going to copy you with the riccia - sorry, hope you don't mind. I've got the hair nets ready & waiting for the arrival, by mail, of 15cm square of riccia (a recent ebay find) Can't find the stuff in a LFS or online here. Hoping it's there when I get home from work, so I can combine the planting with tonight's water change.

Cheers
TW

Thanks Robyn,

Please knock yourself out with the ricca. No two tanks are alike so it will be interesting to see it in yours. If you didn't notice from the first pick you'll notice that the riccia has left my foreground and now is part of my main mound area. I removed alot of wisteria to fit it in.



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Here's an earlier shot (one week) before I left for about 5 days. Notice the rock that the riccia is on is more exposed and the plants have much better color. The first full shot I hadn't dosed in 5 days.



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Here's a closer shot of the riccia covered rock:
LF, notice some BBA on the DW. See I have algae too.



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An even closer shot. Here you could clearly see pearling (no water change in 9 days) and some of the hairnet that is holding the riccia in place.



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Now that's a tank that's devloping real nice.

The re-arrangement of the rocks and riccia is fantastic.

Suddenly it's a tank with lots of interest (without being fussy or distracting) and life. Brighter pics too !

You know have different levels and depth that was lacking before. Great great job

You can dump the still life avatar now.

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Some days you're the pigeon and some days you're the statue.

Remember that age and treachery will always triumph over youth and ability.

Well thank you Sir!

I had a feeling you would like it. I tried to make it more "random" with some wisteria just growing loosely across the midground and having it mix with the other plants. You might have also noticed the Blyxa coverage has expanded and is slightly more random occupying different levels.

You can dump the still life avatar now.

Oh good, I was getting bored looking at it.

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Now that is just wonderful

Was that the reason you didn't update your log in the last week or two? If so, well done, the surpirse is truely a good one.

I am with Bensaf, depth and the whole nine yards, excellent.

But, I wouldn't be myself if I would not have a work of caution:

You have greatly reduced your wisteria farm, the one plant I claim to be responsible for your extreme stability with regards to algae. Have a keen eye on the developing tank, just to make sure that it stays stable. And, Riccia, IMHO, has one disadvantage, it hides algae very well in its lower regions. I know that you perform regular trimmings, so this may not apply to you.

Besides that, BRAVO

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Is it just me or did you add a larger riccia rock to both sides of the mound?

I really like the new look. It creates a slightly more wild look to your tank. A good change from the still life, clean cut scape.



55G Planted tank thread
19G Container Pond
[IMG]http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/Wingsdlc/Ric

Was that the reason you didn't update your log in the last week or two? If so, well done, the surpirse is truely a good one.

Well I timed the "refresh" a few days before I left so I would enjoy about a weeks of growth when I returned (a week with no ferts anyway)

You have greatly reduced your wisteria farm, the one plant I claim to be responsible for your extreme stability with regards to algae

Yes I did think of that, but I had already taken out every wisteria stem prior to the redo in about 3 phases. The lower stems that were being crushed from 10 months of horziontial growth were looking pretty ratty. There's still alot of wisteria in there and the tank is that much more mature. So I'll keep my fingers crossed. The riccia will definitely be more maintenance than the wisteria that I was able to get away with clipping the tops for 10 months.

Is it just me or did you add a larger riccia rock to both sides of the mound?

If it wasn't clear from the photos there is a large rock deep-midground on both sides of the mound. The rocks were positioned to angle up toward the mound keeping the effect.





My Scapes